LCFCJohn

Not really the position (or rather the type on central midfielder) we need right now. Although I think he was harshly judged last season, he still didn’t set the world alight even though he wasn’t bad. Bit meh last season in the Championship so pointless on so many fronts for this season. Not to say he wouldn’t be decent back in the Championship.

Like others, I could see the merits of him as a player and think he’d improve us and unlikely to cost a lot in a fee. But, if he would come to us in our position when he is a free agent in the summer, it would suggest we won’t have learned on the wages front.

It does feel that way. Timing of it to derail the transfer window for us after they did the same in the summer. No doubt if we stay up, they will say the same in about June time as well.

24 and going to play in the MLS. Doesn’t seem very ambitious. You’d think if there was any interest from Europes bigger leagues he wouldn’t be joining an MLS side on January 1st.

I watch them a bit (local to me) and they don’t have under 50%. The stats I have checked actually say just a shade over 50% on average. They dominate some sides and randomly Plymouth turned up and had 60%+ at Bramall Lane a few weeks back. Mostly they seem to have either just above or below hence the very middle average. But when I have seen them, I have been impressed with Souttar on the ball and feel that this ‘he can’t play football’ is one of those that gets said so much that it just becomes assumed by many. I have also been impressed when I have see him how quick he gets out to cover the wide areas so I think the pace thing is a myth too. Obviously his injury changes things but if we go down, I’d have been most comfortable with a Nelson and Souttar partnership than Coady, Vestergard, Faes etc.

Yes?

I have thought he could come back and play a part in the Championship next season as a season as a stand out as a young player in League 2 would put you on the radar of Championship sides if your parent club wasn’t already one. But not part way through a Premier League season.

What do you think Sheff Utd do?

Being reported that Man Utd have to sell to buy and have no budget due to PSR after what they spent in the summer. This needs to be a collective effort from the whole of football to not help them out in January just for the fun of seeing just how close to relegation they could go!

And 4 games since then lost with a single goal scored and 12 conceded. If the new manager bounce consisted of a win at home over a poor West Ham side who set a record for the most shots away from home and a spirited draw at home to a decent but not great Brighton side who possibly got complacent at 2-0 up, it doesn’t bode well does it! Newcastle and Wolves rolled us over. Liverpool were able to conserve energy in a congested period of games and still eased to a win and Man City are the worse they have been in 15 years and looked shocking yet still eased to a win. Sure points will be picked up but it is not unfair to say we aren’t looking like it at the moment. Villa will be tough away but we really need to sort ourselves out for the home games against Fulham and Palace after the cup game.

The question is whether Top believes in mutual respect. He wants to be respected by fans, ok. But the way he is letting the club become the state it is, that is showing huge disrespect to the city of Leicester and the County, the true custodians of the club (the fans), the local community and his own fathers legacy. He’s probably completely ignorant to this.

This is just scaremongering. We will not go down to League 1 solely off the back off such a big deduction. Even if you think the EFL would want to basically automatically relegate us to League 1 out of spite (which would be completely against the so called purpose of their sustainability rules), what they want to do and will be able to do are different things. There will be lawyers, courts and appeals. Nick De Marco involvement etc. We might get a deduction that starts us below 0 and this might make it difficult to win the league, get automatically promoted etc. However, if we were to go down, it’ll be because we are still awfully run not due to a deduction.

He’ll be waiting for a while until 2028! 3 and a half years is a long time. He could either turn out not to be good enough and moved on, be in the first team and sign a new contract or moved on to bigger things than us and of course that all depends on how his progress is relative to how the club progress or regresses relative to his own progress.

His shooting. He seems to have a knack for accuracy and power from range whereas a lot of strikers tend to do most of their work from closer range. See his goal yesterday and some others for Stoke as well as on his cameos for us. Definitely more of a Kane style than Vardy for example.

I don’t think the poster was saying that. They said attributes not same level of ability. Anyway, we don’t need and won’t get someone at Kane‘s level.

Yep. And even if we stayed up this season and then go down next, it won’t go away. For me I would say just get our house in order, fight it where possible but then ride whatever is left. Kicking the can down the road and making matters worse is going to leave a cloud over the club. For me, it is striking a balance between not sacking off this season but also making sure any business we do has an eye on next season. Whether that is players who can stay with us or make a quick profit is fine. But not anyone on big wages who we won’t then shift. Re Cannon, seems no point selling. It won’t be a game changing for funding transfers in. We won’t make a big profit. But if/when we go down, he could be a key player next season. What’s the point selling now for a negligible amount PSR wise, to then have a problem in the summer.

And if we are slapped with an embargo the second we are an EFL club again and can’t bring anyone in? We need to have an eye on both situations. This ‘just think about now and don’t worry about the future’ way of thinking will **** us even more.

Hard to know whether he would stay if relegated. On the one hand, he has a decent length contract and will cost big to take him away. Also, if we were under an embargo, we would have to keep players we may have sold and replaced. Add to that, Hermansen would leave but would that be enough financially? But then Bilal has already played at a decent level in Belgium and internationals and has come to us as a Premier League side. You already feel we are a stepping stone so might be too much to ask to keep him. Harder to judge than Hermansen who would be a cert to go or even Fatawu who due to injury, you’d imagine would certainly stay.

Yep. I’m not concerned about Nelson in terms of him having performed well at that level but it would be good to get him on the side but if he can recover and finish his loan that’s also fine by me. If we go down, it’s really hard to know who would go and stay. I think Mads is certain but can we keep hold of Bilal? Maybe. Fatawu probably after his injury is a cert to stay. If we could give these couple of chance, in terms of the attacking midfield, you could have, Right side - Fatawu + ? I guess we will probably have BDR still for experienxd Centre - Bilal and Alves Left side - Mavididi and Monga Chuck in Ayew probably still there along with BDT for experience, that looks as great forward line. Cannon would probably thrive also on that lot behind him. Stolarcryk in goal and defence with Nelson at the heart actually looks pretty exciting!

I’m glad he got his debut. I know many on here are about chucking it all at short term fixes to try and stay up and not worrying about the future. But an example. Sheffield United last season, albeit in a worse position than us, brought the likes of Ollie Arblaster, Sydie Peck and Andre Brooks into their side during the season last season and those players have been key to them this season, Arblaster even captaining them until he was injured. Obviously we don’t want to write the season off but I’d like to see us blood the youngsters such as Alves and Monga in a similar way.

I did see all the things you describe. As I say, we looked a lot better. What I need to see is whether we can do that against the likes of Fulham and Palace in our next two homes games in January who will provide stronger tests than that Man City side. It feels weird to say as prior to the start of the season, you’d take that yesterday as it’d not be a game that you would expect or target points from as a newly promoted team aiming for survival. Things change though and they were appalling. With that and being turned over by Wolves last week, I think that was an opportunity that we should have taken if we were serious about survival so whilst it may have been a big improvement, given the opposition, it doesn’t give me any more indication that we can get out the bottom 3. For me, there’s still a big gap between us, Ipswich and Southampton and those above. It’s hard to see anyone else being seriously in the conversation come the season end.

I’m surprised by how happy everyone seems to be with that. Yes we resembled a football side. We did play better and created some good chances as well as not facing 20+ on our own goal which is the standard we have come to expect. But Man City were absolutely awful. The worst side I have seen apart from us. That is the worst Man City side I have seen since they were taken over. There is a reason they had only 1 win 13. It wasn’t just an off performance from them, that is them now. Everyone else has been taking results from them so whilst they might have made us look good, they still won at ease. Again we treat the opposition on reputation. We are happy that we huffed and puffed and had some chances against a side everyone else is getting a result from. Sure, it was much improved from us but does not change the fact we are nailed on for the drop.

It wasn’t great but I think you are over egging it slightly due to feelings towards Cooper. I would say it was more what business wasn’t done rather than what was. If you look at last summer (Enzo) from a what the signings offered (as yet) and from what we are privy to re transfer fees etc, I’d suggest the following: Hermansen - absolute hit, bargain. Fatawu - hit Mavididi - hit (not great this season) Winks - hit Doyle - miss as he didn’t really offer much. Casadei - miss, people seemed happy he went back early. Coady - way way overpaid and has offered nothing. Cannon - maybe offer something in the future but did not get many minutes last season and now loaned out. At best, that’s a 50/50 record. Summer just gone. Bilal - looks like a hit Okoli - has promise. Probably given we already had a number of centre halves, if you were bringing one in you’d want them to come into the 11 and be established. Ayew - clearly unfashionable but it was £5mill which in today’s premier league money is a pittance. It’s £2.5 mill a season over the 2 years and he has been scoring vital goals that have directly won us points against our rivals. Put aside the fact he is unfashionable and yes, a sign of how we have fallen (pre-Cooper), the signing for what was spent and the return so far is a hit. Even if he should be a squad player not a starter. BDR - free transfer. A market we have under utilised. Without knowing wages etc, it seemed a sensible bit of business that Pearson would have been lauded for. Again, unfashionable due to the level we have been at. Neither a hit or miss as he seemed quite bright in Ruud’s opening games so may provide some useful contributions as the season goes on. Buonanotte - under Cooper was offering much more than the loanees last season. Unsure why Ruud has dropped him. Eduoard - flop, but any more so than say Casedei last season on loan? Possibly a bit more fair enough. Skipp - massive overpay and yes so far a flop. Compatible in that sense to Coady last season. If we go down, I can see him being an important player for us next season. The point I am illustrating I suppose is that the aren’t necessarily more ‘flops’ than half the signings last season. But we did manage to get more hits but that for me, is the business no done. We finished the summer still with a number of gaps.

This is it for me. We talk about needing 3/4 quality additions to improve the starting 11. This is unlikely with how our club is run anyway. Let’s say for a minute we get them. That just brings us to par with those above us. That though also relies on those above standing still which I can’t see. Wolves - new manager and been struggling so they will back him. Everton - new ownership who will likely want to get off to a positive start. It sounds defeatist but I just feel that needing both our club to get it right and rely on other clubs not to is too huge an ask and it just seems the writing is on the wall already.

You need to have an eye on both. What I meant, and I have said it elsewhere, the signings we make should both be financially (wages mainly) manageable to keep in the event of relegation and also be willing to stay and have the right stomach for the challenge. What won’t help but what will happen, is that we will chuck money and wages at has beens and players who think the Championship is below them which will **** us for next season. That does mean that you have to accept that this means signing players that won’t contribute this season. But we need to be smart and have an eye on both and not risk the long term future.